My first project in my Fix-It-Up series is fixing my kitchen drawers. One corridor had completely disappeared without anyone admitting the fact, and the other rails were not keeping in their path. This meant that over the months we had to push, pull and pull until an entire drawer front came off the drawer itself. My husband fixed that problem, but the root of the problem remained: drawers that wouldn’t slide.
I purposely chose a fairly easy project as the first in the series for two reasons: one, to try and succeed at my first project (the vanity of it all), and two, because I had just finished packing up all my Christmas stuff. week before and I was tired!
My trip to Home Depot looking for a replacement drawer runner was a success only thanks to a very helpful gentleman who couldn’t help overhearing myself and Geri talking to a pleasant, if clueless, Home Depot employee. This friendly passerby happened to be a cabinet builder, lucky for us, and he filled our heads with all sorts of tips and advice on drawer issues. I will share them with you as we go along.
Here are the steps I took with explanations so you can master this task yourself.
* The first is the first; empty the drawers. Here is a photo of my totally disorganized mess. One drawer with Tupperware and such, the other with small appliances and kitchen tools.
* Take your good drawer: Or an example of what you need to the hardware store with you. This is invaluable. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will be able to choose what you need from the overwhelming amount of merchandise. Trust me, everything will look the same after you get there.
*Clean the area first: After pulling out the drawers, clean the empty cabinet of old dust and dirt. It will make working on your project easier.
*Mount the hardware to the cabinet – This was easy enough by following the instructions that came with the rails and also following the example of the intact drawer.
* Drill Pilot Holes – It’s always best to drill small pilot holes before sinking the screw, especially in particle board. The particle board will split and crumble (happened to me with this project even with a pilot hole. Nothing a little wood glue can’t fix).
* Adjust the back bracket: The brackets that attach to the back of the cabinet were intact, but over the years they had shifted so that the drawer fell off the rail when you pushed it in. Each rear mount has two screw holes, one that slides in and one that anchors the mount.
– Unscrew and remove the anchor screw but leave the screw in the slider; loosen up a bit.
– Slide both brackets toward the center of the cabinet as far as possible. In other words, all the way to one end of the slide.
– Carefully put the drawer back on its rails and slowly push it all the way in.
– Remove drawer.
– The rear rails are now exactly where they need to be to hold the crate, as the crate itself moved the rear supports to the exact location. Tighten the slide screw and add a screw into the anchor slot after drilling a pilot hole. Most of the time, the rear mounts are parallel to each other.
* Fix any issue with drawer:
My drawer (and this was the good one!) was starting to come apart (see photo). The bottom of my drawer only held together with small staples, so I added some wood glue and hammered the staples into place. I completely bent a staple trying to hammer it in, so I replaced it with a screw with a pilot hole drilled first.
* Clean drawers and surrounding woodwork – this is your chance for a deep clean. I like mild soap and water, followed by Liquid Gold.
* Replace the shelf liner – mine was faded, dirty and torn…it should be, it was 15 years old! But being the load rat that I am, I still had the original roll and had plenty to spare to replace it. Ahhh, fresh and new.
* Organize: I proudly get rid of at least 25-50% of things. The rest, I neatly put into bins and storage bins. While you’re at it, tidy up the other drawers too.
* Admire your work: It’s okay to be proud of yourself.